Am I the only one who thinks this game is way more inferior than its predecessor?

[Megahiro10]

I think the story itself is good but how the whole game is structured is not. The map is too huge and you have to backtrack the whole time. Driving around is crap because you keep crashing into other vehicles. The guns are a weird choice, I do not like them. Also are there no checkpoints? It tried to copy some points from GTA3 but failed. I like the humor and the characters but I think the first game has way better gameplay and that is what matters to me in a platformer/adventure game. 

[Fox-Hand-89]

I'm kinda agree with you on this matter. Jak II and 3 are boring gameplay and locations-wise. Jak 3 is a bit better with adding desert location and traditional transport, but not much - it still uses almost all locations and mechanics from Jak II in later half of the game. Since I first played the series back in 15/16, I only remembering Jak 1 in a good way, while 2 and 3 are became an average games for me. Thus, I'm finding this series is the weakest from Naughty Dog, especially after I played Ratchet & Clank series.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Fox-Hand-89

[PIOTREK27-1982]

It's not a pure platformer, so yes, but i always loved that first Jak is platformer, second game is cartoonish GTA and third game is offroad vehicle simulator, which makes Jak the most versatile series ND produced. 

[DesmaBR]

No, I remember it being disliked even back when it released

[I3arbiQ]

Seems I'm lonely with my opinion but for me Jak I till Jak III are equally good. They're perfect for me in combination and I remember so positive to all these games. Only Jak X was always unnecessary.

[KenjiCBZ]

Personally, I feel like having to choose one specific Jak of the original trilogy above the other two is like having to choose between your mom and your dad Jak 2 is indeed completely different than its prequel, but to me they are both great games, in different ways.

And I don't remember having problems with the checkpoints: just some missions that took slightly more tries, but no big deal.

[Conor]

No, Jak II is generally considered a step down and has been since it released. But many also admire its qualities but they weren't fully realised until Jak 3. Easily the worst game Naughty Dog made as a PlayStation first party studio, though not without its merits.

[squaresoft4ever7]

I remember renting Jak II after enjoying the first one only to rage quit at the infamous water race.  

[sepheroithisgod]

I think Jak 1 is the best in the franchise, but it's a 3D collectathon, while 2/3 are basically different genres with the same characters (almost like a reboot). If you look into it, ND was inspired by GTA3 and wanted to make the games similar to that, or at least that's what I've read. 

[tomadom64]

If I were to rank the first Jak and Daxter compared to the other first party, or even third party, offerings on PS2, I would rank it somewhere in my Top 5 PS2 games of all time. If I were to rank the whole Jak and Daxter series overall compared to other PS2 original franchises, first or third party, I'd probably put it dead last, simply for Jak II and the changes it brought to the overall franchise. I would have loved for the series to stick closer to the first game's style. Even though Jak 3 fixed a couple problems, it didn't shake enough of the problems I had with Jak II's core gameplay and mechanics.

I understand WHY ND wanted to expand into a more mature franchise, but I just don't think the gunplay they have works with the formula and engine the first Jak and Daxter established. The story is fine, I enjoyed some of the characters and plot points, but the hub and levels are just too repetitive and unoriginal for my liking. I never felt like the weapons were the most accurate thing either, sometimes I swear I should have hit an enemy, but I just don't.

 

Bit of a side-story to go alongside my opinion of Jak II (I swear, it's related). When I was younger, I grew up with Sonic Mega Collection and Shadow the Hedgehog, so I had a wide variety of tonal shifts with the Sonic series. I enjoyed both games greatly, and to this day can still play them for hours. But I always heard people talk about how they hated the change in writing, how having the characters use guns feelingblike they jumped the shark, and the swearing was incredibly forced. I understood why they disliked it, but I never really felt the same way about it. That mostly had to do with growing up with these two extremes in storytelling though, and that's obviously leaked into my opinion of the game today. When I went from Jak and Daxter to Jak II, I finally fully understood what older Sonic fans felt going from Sonic Heroes to Shadow the Hedgehog. Main difference for me though is that for Sonic, if I want something more like Mega Collection or Adventure, I still have games like the Advance series and Adventure 2/Heroes to scratch that itch. For Jak, I have to play the first game or nothing else.

[Platinum_Vice]

I really enjoyed it. Key to that was that I was in the target demographic when it released. I liked the characters, missions, locations and difficulty. It was fun. 

 

I also really liked Jak X. 

 

Replaying it as an adult when there were trophies for the PS3/PS4 ports, I still enjoyed them.

 

I thought Jak 3 was the weakest entry personally because it had the slowest plot points and the least interesting character arcs and villains. Changes to the gameplay formula were minimal. 

 

I think this is ND's weakest series but only because of the strength of their full development history. 

 

[DizzyDavidson]

I love Jak and Daxter. Then I played Jak II… and that was it. Even though I have Jak III and Jak X (or whatever it’s called) hoping to one day play them, that might not happen they’re so far down my priority list.

Same goes for Xenosaga, but that one’s for another topic.

[Dark_Overlord]

1 > 3 >>>>>>>>>>>> 2

 

2 was bad in every way, they seem to have gone the 'well GTA is popular and so are guns, quick add them' route and it just didn't work.

[Megahiro10]

Oh lol, glad to know that I am actually not alone, it felt like it's really liked by people. I just hope I will like Jak 3 cause otherwise it's gonna be another debug mode plat. 😛

[AKIRA28_]

I generally agree, the first Jak and Daxter felt like the true sequel to Crash Bandicoot to me. I still think 2 and 3 are great games but the first is special.

[Zephrese]

I personally see the first Jak game the same way I do Banjo-Kazooie; both are definitely good games, but they're games I don't personally like nearly as much as others or find to be all that special (at least nowadays).

 

Jak II and Jak 3 have plenty of issues, obviously, but I still like them more and find them to be a lot more interesting. Subsequent playthroughs have made me appreciate the games more and realize that not only are they not as hard or frustrating as I first thought, but some of the issues I initially had weren't really issues with the games themselves to begin with (or I at least began to view some of their flaws as less of an issue, anyway). I can certainly get why people don't like the changes ND made with these games from the first entry, but I also feel it was necessary to keep the series relevant at a time when platformers outside of Super Mario were starting to really struggle to retain mainstream attention. I don't think that either game is objectively bad or even mediocre beyond one's personal taste regardless.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Zephrese

[Smurfox]

I usually tend to excuse gameplay criticisms I have if I enjoy the story with some games - this being one of them. I remember playing it fresh on release and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Precursor Legacy is still my go-to for a chilled experience, but Jak II is my rose-tinted glasses favourite of the series.

[alexandra-jane09]

Obviously many have missed the point of Jak 2, Jak is growing up and into an adult thus the games had to "grow up" too, yes Jak 2: Renegade [ its UK title ] isn't the same its predecessor, but it isn't meant to be.  All of Jak's weapons are related to Eco, which if you recall all the colours do different things in the first game.  The only colour you don't have in your gun is the Green Eco, but that's for healing so I guess it wasn't useful to fight with.  Jak 2 is a lot harder than Jak 1, some of the missions are annoying including the one where you have to protect your baby self - yeah that twist hey, was pretty obvious even first time playing the game that the "Kid" was Jak, they never explained the Aviation Goggles thing.  I personally love all the Jak series, including Jak X [ Nobody's Perfect Trophy = Left Behind DLC ].  Never played Lost Frontier and don't want too, the idea of a Dark variant of Daxter is adorable, but goes against the lore of the previous games.   I would have liked a remake or remaster of Daxter on consoles with trophy support, because that actually looked like a nice game, and it falls between Jak 1 and Jak 2 nicely.  I can say that Mar's Tomb is platforming hell but practice makes perfect.

[LilIelaps]

Jak II was a huge misstep in my eyes. The Precursor Legacy was masterclass in platforming collectathon gameplay and Jak II threw it all away to chase trends. And the series has no clear identity as a result. Jak II is an alright game, as is Jak 3. But they are awful followups to what the first game was. When I look at the three core PS2 action platformer trilogies, Ratchet, Sly and Jak, the Jak trilogy has always been dead last to me. Whereas The Precursor Legacy on it's own is one of my favourite games. I think sometimes about what a true sequel would have been like.

Edited December 7, 2023 by LilIelaps

[Smurfox]

On 12/7/2023 at 11:52 AM, alexandra-jane09 said:

Never played Lost Frontier and don't want too, the idea of a Dark variant of Daxter is adorable, but goes against the lore of the previous games.

I decided to play it around 2014-15 after years of searching for it - I'm both glad I did & wish I didn't at the same time. Gameplay wasn't anything special, but wasn't obnoxious either. But as you mentioned, there were quite a few inconsistencies in Lost Frontier and it didn't feel like it progressed the story/characters with a natural growth as seen in the first 3 instalments.

[xXIsaIsaXx]

I agree. Playing this currently. About 3-4 hours in and it feels like a slog. After having played for the first time and loved Jak 1 last year this is kind of a big disappointment so far. My opinion my change later after I finish it but as of right now, I definitely agree. I am enjoying the characters and humor so far. So it does have a plus. 

[MonaSaxPayne]

On 9/20/2023 at 11:11 PM, sepheroithisgod said:

I think Jak 1 is the best in the franchise, but it's a 3D collectathon, while 2/3 are basically different genres with the same characters (almost like a reboot). If you look into it, ND was inspired by GTA3 and wanted to make the games similar to that, or at least that's what I've read. 

 

totally agree

 

only jak game I loved was the first one

 

same with sly cooper

 

never enjoyed any other entry after the first one

[DrBloodmoney]

Nope. 

 

First one was good, second one was hot, smelly butt-poop, with a side helping of cringe-inducing 90's 'ttude.

[Boomshanks]

Am I the only one who.... followed by commonly held opinion 🫥

[Dry]

Narratively speaking, I remain undecided on whether Jak II: Renegade or Jak 3 is the trilogy’s best entry however combined, they make The Precursor Legacy look like a prologue to the events from the second game’s opening cinematic and beyond.

 

Gameplay-wise I cannot comment much on because admittedly, I platted all nine Jak & Daxter trilogy platform stacks twice (first on my dead/original PSN account, second on this PSN account) with use of the debug mode and orb glitches whenever no command would unlock the trophies tied to them.

 

Guess it’s a good thing I couldn’t skip too much of the first game with it, otherwise I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to binge the cutscenes from the rest of the trilogy.

 

Overall I'd say Jak & Daxter offers a pretty good narrative (especially once Mar, I mean… Jak, breaks his “silent hero syndrome”).

Edited February 2 by Dry